Air-moistener for internal-combustion engines.



S. W. ROTHENBERGER. AIR MOISTENER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.APPLlcATloN FILED MAR.26,1917.

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AIR MOISTENER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES..

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26| 19|]- R v 8. R. W m ML m n M m m m www z ya nm m m m 3 0 1 I 14 ,a J. I o O Zmgm i H2 2 1J 4 I L W H ,m o J N Y a .wS V 4 H I 1 O v /5 MJ F "\`."\`\`\\\\`\\YW\7/ll4 :Pd- J n wf. 1, w 5 5 DT 1 m UNITED STATESl PATENT OFFICE.

simon w. no'rnannaneaa, or mnmnaroms, immensen, asszenon or omllrmn Tovrammen E. conn, ONE-FIFTH ro rmrmr a. Tnonas, am: Two-nuns To u! n.

PIKE, ALL or numerous-mason.

Ia-normanna ron m'rmanconnus'n'on' mamie.

Specification. of Letters Patent.'

Patented May '7, 1218.

application mea :man 26,1917. semi ms. 1mm. l

To all whom it may concern: n

Be it known thatI, SIMON lVV.R0'1HE1-I BERGER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improve- .ments inAir-Moisteners' for InternalCombustion Engines; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and-use the same.

My invention relates to air moisteners. for internal combustion engmes;and, to

this end, it consists of the novel devices and combinations of deviceshereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating the air moistener appliedin working position to the carbureter, intake manlfol and exhaustmanifold of an internal combustion engine;

. Fig. 2 is a view of the air moistener inl front elevation with someparts removed;

Fig. 3 is a view, principally in central-v vertical section taken on theline -3--3 of Fig. 8 is a view, principally in section` illustrating amodified form of the vapor spraying nozzle.

The numeral 9 indicates as an entirety a carbureter, of the standard orany desired construction, and the numeral 10 in dicates a throttlecontrol rod pivotally atv tached to the free end of an arm 11` on oneof-the trunnions 12 of the,.throttle .valveof said carbureter. The fuelintake. vvnllanifeld,

' and -the exhaust manifold of combustion engine are indicated, res`ec'-`;l

tively, by the numerals 13 and 14, anv to stricted olted 'together andhaving formed therein an air conduit 16. This air conduit 16, in theupper section of th casing 15, is expanded at its lowerextr mity to'afford a valve seat 17. The lower extremity of the a1r conduit 16, inthe lower section of the caslng 15, is contracted to afford areassageway 18, the purpose of whlch wil presently a pear. Also formedin the lower section o the casing 15, is a water chamber 19 havin anopen front wall normally closed by a ace plate 2O held.

in positionV by screws 21. A pliable packin 22 is interposed between thecasing 15 an face late 20 to afford a water-tight joint there etween. i

Air is4 drawn into the conduit'12 through a heater 23, under the suctionstroke of the engine, and which heater is attached to the the nipple 24,auditie also provided with' -baille p ates 26 which retard the movementof the air therethrough from the port25 to the nipple 24, and thereby.increase the 85 efficiency of the heater. The bottom of `the heater 23is made concaven cross section' to t, the exhaust manifold 14, 'isbolted thereto and receives its heat therefrolm.

Water is supplied tothe -air moistener from a, storage tank 27 through ai e 28.

This storage water tank 27 is provi e witha cap-e uipped filling opening29 and a drain va ve 30, and is supported by 4brackets`31 above theheater 23 and from the exhaust manifold 14. The delivery end of the pipe28 is connected to the bottom of the casing 15 by a couplin 32, having aport'33 which connects sai .pipe with the water chamber 19. In the u rend of the port 33, is a valve seat 34. ater from the chamber 191issprayed transversal into they lpassagers'ay 18' throng .'a short',.Sgewy L18 y through 'oppositelyextended 36 t0 the arms of the fuelintake mani- *body of the needle valve 50.

fold 13, and their intermediate portions are coiled at 37 around theexhaust pipe 14. The deliveryends of the pipes 36 are extended throughthe arms of the fuel intake manifold 13, close to the engine, and havesecured thereto spraying nozzles 38. These spraying azzles' 38 are 1nthe Yform of rlngs axially located, with respect to the adjacentvportions of the arms of the fuel intake manifold 13, and they arecircumferentially split to discharge both radially, inwardly andoutwardly therefrom, a curtain of vapor transversely of said arms.

The air port 16 is normally closed by a valve 39 mounted on the seat 17and arranged to be opened under the suction stroke of the engine. Thisvalve 39 is provided with a stem 40, which works through a tapered.cylindrical extension 41 integrally formed with the top section of thecasing 15. The upper projecting end of the valve stem 40 isscrew-threaded to receive a nut 42, which affords an adjustableabutment.Encircling the casing extension 41 and projecting end of the valve stem40, 1s a hellcal spring 43 compressed between the top of the casing 15and abutment 42 and yieldingly holds the valve 39 closed. By adjustingthe abutment 42letlrentension of the spring 43 may be varied, t will.

To prevent the valve 39 from opening under the suction stroke of theengine, when.V the air moistener 1s not 1n operation, and

thereby disturb the setting of the carbureter 9, there is mounted intheair conduit 16 a normally closed choke or butterfly valve 44. This chokevalve 44 is located between the valve 39 and restricted passageway 18and is secured to an oscillatory shaft 45 mounted in the walls of thecasing 1.5. Adjustably secured to the. outer end of the shaft 45, is anarm 46 pivotally connected by a link 47 to a rigid radially projectingarm 48 on the throttle control rod 10.v As the karm 48 is frictionallyclamped by a draw bolt 49 on the rod 10, the same can be readilylongitu- -dinally adjusted on said rod.

The water supply port 33 is normally closed by a needle valve 50 mountedin the seat 34 with its body guided by a seat formed in a web 51integrally formed with the casing 15 and extending into the water chamber 19. The needle valve 50 is yieldingly held closed by a coil spring52, encircling 'the body of said valve, and compressed between thev web'51 and an adjustable abutment 53, in the form of a pair of lock nuts,having screw-threaded engagement with the An arm 54, operated by" avariable throw crank 55, on the shaft 45 is provided for simultaneouslylifting the needle valve 50 from its seat-34 with the opening of thechoke valve 44. This variable throw crank 55 comprises a disk-like head56 secured to the inner end commingling of the threaded engagement witha plate 58. This `plate 58 has sliding dove-tailed engagement with aradially extended channel 59 .formed in the face of the head 55. Byreference to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the inner end of the crankpin 57 impinges against the head 55 and frictionally holds the plate 58where set. Obviously, by adjusting the plate 58 in the channel 59, thethrow of the lcrank may be varied, at will.

In some instances, it might be desirable to take the water supply forthe air moistener from the circulatlng system of the engine, in place ofthe storage tank 27. In such a case, itV would be necessary to interposea suitable strainer in the pipe connecting the air moistener with theclrculating system.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 8, the numeral 60 indicatesan engine casing to which is directly bolted a carbureter 61. In thisconstruction, the usual fuel intake manifold is entirely dispensed with,thereby making nozzle, shown in Fi s. 6 and 7, impracticable. In thismodi cation, as a substitute for the spraying nozzle 38, there isinterposed, between the engine casing and carbureter, a spraying nozzle62, having in its inner wall an annular slit, through which the vaporisdischarged radially into the fuel intake, in the form of a curtain.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the arm 54 is pivoted, atits upper end, to the crank pin 55 and its lower end is bent laterallyunder the abutment 53 and provided with an aperture, through which thebody of a needle valve 50 is free to move endwise. It will thus be seenthat the abutment 53 may be so set, with respect -to the arm 54, as topermit the choke valve 44 to start to open before the needle valve 50starts to open. j

From the above description, it is evident that air drawn into the heater23, through its intake port 25, under the suction stroke of the engine,is heated by the exhaust pipe 14. This hot air from the heater 23 entersthe restricted passageway 18, has its movement accelerated thereby and,during the accelerated movement of the hot air, water is sprayed in afine mist therein by the nozzle 35 and at substantially right anglesthereto. The vapor, thus formed by the hot air and water in therestricted passageway 18, is again heated, while passin around theexhaust manifold 14 in the coi s 37 of the pipes 36. The fuel chargefrom the carbureter 9, in passing through and around the nozzles 38, ismet by blasts of hot vapor at right angles to the form of sprayingthedirection of the flow .of said fuel charge. The meeting of the fuelcharge and hot blasts of vaporl produce a vortex at each nozzle 38 andthereby thoroughly commingles the vapor with the fuel charge. Thiscommingling of the fuel charge and vapor also thoroughly vaporizes anyparticles of liquid gasolene in the fuel charge and any raw gasolene onthe inner surface of the intake manifold, due to condensation.`

It will thus be seen that the light hyrocarbon fuel charge and the vaporare thoroughly mixed before entering the explosion chamber of theengine, which results in perfect combustion, thus leaving no residue ofcarbon, and increasing the mileage by eliminating all waste of gasolene,prevalentl in presentday carbureters. In case thereJ is considerablecarbon deposit in an engine, at the time the air moistener isincorporated therein, the needle valve may be adjusted to feed morewater than would ordinarily be necessary to keep the engine free fromcarbon. After the carbon is removed from the engine, the needle valve 50may be readjusted to feed just suiicient water to Keep the engine freefrom carbon.

From the above description, it is also evident that the air and Watervalves of the air moistener are automatically actuated by the throttlecontrol for the carbureter. While the engine is running at low speed,thc air and water valve of the air moistener are closed, so as to notinterfere with the smooth running of the engine. As the throttle controlrod 10 is operated to open the throttle valve of the carburetor, withthe increasing speed of the engine, the choke valve 44 and needle valve50 are simultaneously opened, proportionately to the position of thethrottle valve, to thereby admit the necessary amount of water and airfor producing the required amount of vapor for the fuel charge. Byadjusting the variable throw crank 55, any desired amount of water maybe admitted to the spraying nozzlesI 35. In adjusting the abutment 53,with respect to the arm 54, the needle valve 50 may be caused to opensimultaneously with the choke valve 44, or after the choke valve 44 hasstarted to open.

The above described invention, while comparatively simple and ofrelatively small cost to manufacture and install, 1s entirely automaticin its action and has, in actual usage, proven highly eicient for thepurpose had in view. It may be here stated, that, if the water supplyfor the air moistener gives out, air only need be used.

What I claim is 1. The combination with an internal combustion enginehaving a carbureter, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vaporinto the fuel intake of said engine and having air and water controlvalves, a connection for operating one of said valves from the throttlecontrol of the carbureter, and an operating connection between said twovalves.

2. The combination with an internal combustion engine having acarburetor, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vapor into thefuel intake of said engine and having air and Water control valves, aconnection for operating the air valve from the throttleI control of thecarbureter, and a variable throw crank connection between said twovalves.

3. The combination with an internal combustion engine having acarbureter, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vapor into thefue] intake of said en 'ne and having an air valve arranged to opened bythe suction stroke of the engine, said air moistener also having a chokevalve and a water-controlled valve, said choke valve being interposedbetween said air valve and fuel intake, a connection for operating thechoke valve from the throttle control of the carbureter, and a variablethrow crank connection between the choke valve and the water-controlledvalve.

In testimon whereof I aiiix my signature in presence o two witnesses.

SIMON W. ROTHENBERGER.

Witnesses:

BEENICE G. WHEELER, HARRY D. KmeoRE.

